


You Are Now Leaving Leadworth

by nostalgia



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adultery, F/M, Human!Doctor, Road Trips, Scotland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-03
Updated: 2012-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-30 13:49:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/332413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nostalgia/pseuds/nostalgia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amy Pond and John Smith pack up and head to Dundee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Are Now Leaving Leadworth

Amy dropped her bags into the boot of the car and pulled it shut. She got into the passenger seat and struggled with the seatbelt. 

“My hands are shaking.”

John leaned over and snapped it into place for her. “Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?”

“How many times are you going to ask me that?”

“This the last time.”

“Then yes, I'm sure.”

John nodded and started the car, pulling out from the driveway onto the empty road. Amy shifted in her seat. “How far do you think we can get before they realise we've gone?”

“I left a note,” said John. 

Amy turned from the window to stare at him. “You said no notes. You made me promise.”

He shrugged. “I know, but by the time she's back from Milton Keynes we'll be long gone.”

“What did the note say?”

“'I'm sorry.'”

“Concise.”

“She can read between the lines.” 

They turned onto the main road out of Leadworth, travelling just below the speed limit. “Have you got a map?”

“Of course I've got a map. Amy, stop worrying. Nothing's going to go wrong.”

She folded her hands in her lap and sat in silence until the sign by the road informed them that they were out of Leadworth. “Goodbye, home,” she murmured. 

 

An hour into the drive Amy's phone rang.

“I thought you left that behind,” said John, just short of snapping at her. “Don't answer it.”

She ignored him and took the call, lifting the phone as though it might explode. 

“Amy, where are you? Are you okay?” 

“I'm fine.” She glanced out at her reflection in the rear-view mirror. “Don't wait up, okay?”

“Is something wrong?” She could hear the concern in Rory's voice.

“Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine. Fine and dandy.” Her stomach felt like it was turning inside-out. “Actually, I might not be back for a couple of days.”

“What's going on? Amy, tell me where you are.”

“I'm with John, it's...” She couldn't think of a decent lie; all her carefully-prepared explanations vanished from her mind. “I'm not coming back. I'm... sort of leaving you.”

“What? Amy, you can't just-”

John took the phone from her, switched it off, and threw it onto the back seat. 

“Sorry,” she said, shaking. “I didn't mean to tell him. I couldn't think of anything to say and he was...” She trailed off.

John put a hand on her knee. “It's okay.” 

Amy stared at her legs. What was she doing? 

“Do you want to stop for something to eat?” asked John. 

“No, I'm fine. We should keep going. I want a bit more distance between us and them.”

 

They stopped at a service station just after Sheffield. John went to buy some food and Amy sat alone in the middle of the cafeteria. After some thought she pulled off her wedding ring and slipped it into her pocket. 

Maybe she was going crazy. That might be it. That might be why she'd turned John's trip to Dundee into a chance to run off with him. Everything was clouded, she wasn't even sure _why_ they were going to Scotland, just that she wanted to get there. 

“Cheer up, it might never happen,” said John, arriving with a tray of sandwiches, cakes, and two cans of Diet Coke. 

“Very funny.”

“Sorry. Nerves, I expect.” He sat down opposite her and started unwrapping a tuna sandwich. “I keep expecting to turn round and see River staring at me.” He looked at Amy. “You took off your ring.”

“I don't need it any more.”

“I suppose not.” He tugged his own wedding ring off and looked at it. “You watch us run,” he read from the engraving on the inside. “I never did understand what that meant.” He dropped it into his jacket pocket. “Eat something, I don't want you dying on me.”

“I'm not hungry. I'll take something back to the car.” She tried a smile. “I really do want to be with you.”

“Me too,” he said, returning her smile. He put his sandwich down and took her hand. “I mean I want to be with you, not that I want to be with me. Though I suppose I'm stuck with me.”

“Why Dundee?”

“Hmm?”

“I can't remember why we're going there. Everything's a bit... fuzzy.”

John nodded, stroked the skin on the back of her hand. “That's just the excitement. To be honest I'm not sure either. About Dundee, I mean. I just want to go there. Call it a craving.”

“And then what?”

“Something exotic. Further away than you can imagine. Somewhere beautiful.”

“And yet we're going to Dundee.”

He let go of her hand and pushed a bit of hair out of his eyes. “Everything has to start somewhere.”

 

Next stop was Newcastle, to spend the night in a moderately-priced hotel. They booked in as Mr and Mrs Smith, and nobody called them liars. 

Amy kicked her shoes off and lay down on the bed. “We're going to need somewhere to live. And jobs. All that stuff.”

“Don't spoil the moment, Mrs Smith,” said John, lying down next to her. He moved closer and kissed her quite chastely on the lips.

Amy kissed him back with more passion, wondering vaguely why this all felt so new. He kissed down her throat, undoing the buttons on her blouse and pressing his mouth against the curve of her breasts. Amy tugged at his shirt and they undressed each other hurriedly, trying not to move too far apart. 

“Amy,” he breathed. “Amy.”

There was a name on the tip of her tongue, but it didn't fit him. She pushed the thought away and straddled his hips, pressing down and shifting her weight in quick movements. He groaned, put his hands on her waist and lifted her so she could fit their bodies together. 

It was like the first time all over again, a first time that if pressed Amy would have to admit she didn't quite remember. She just knew that this was what they did, this was how things were supposed to be. 

They didn't get much sleep. 

 

They crossed the border at about midday, cheered at the Welcome To Scotland sign and kept on until the services at Gretna. 

“I nearly got married here once,” he said as they shopped for tacky tartan souvenirs. 

Amy was surprised. “You never told me that.”

“Old girlfriend. Dark hair, bit aloof.” 

“What was her name?”

“Um... Rose, I think.”

“You _think_? You were going to marry the woman and you can't even remember her name?”

“It was ages ago,” he said, frowning. “Hey,” he said, “do you want this?” He picked up a soft toy shaped like a bird. “It's haggis.”

“Scotland embarrasses me sometimes,” she said, taking the so-called haggis and putting it back on the shelf. “And don't think I didn't notice you changing the subject.”

“Everyone forgets things sometimes. It's normal.”

She took his hand and led him from the gift shop. “I wish we could get married here. I heard they get witnesses from the shop across the road from the registry office.”

“Are you proposing, Amy Pond?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

“Don't be daft.”

“I wouldn't say no, if you did.”

“I don't love you enough to go to prison for bigamy,” she said, dropping her voice in case someone overheard and disapproved. 

 

When they got to Dundee they kept driving, John looking out of the window intently.

“What are you looking for?” she asked.

“Something... blue, I think.”

“You've gone strange. I knew it would happen.”

“You're one to talk. Ah!” He stopped the car by an old police box. They got out of the car and looked at it. “The weird thing,” said John, “is that this one doesn't look like the others this far north. This is your classic MacKenzie design.”

“Wow,” said Amy, underwhelmed. “Did we really come all this way to look at a box?”

John pushed the door. “It's open. Want to look inside?”

“Might as well,” she said, and stepped into...

 

Amy woke in her bed on the TARDIS. 

“I was starting to worry,” said the Doctor. Amy turned her head to see him sitting by the bed on the battered old armchair. 

“How long was I asleep?”

“Not sure. I only woke up myself about an hour ago.”

“What the hell...” She remembered. “We were in Dundee. You were human. We were -”

“Never happened,” said the Doctor briskly. 

Amy thought back to the last thing that seemed weird enough to be real. “Was it the smoke at that party?”

He nodded. “Psychic hallucinogens. Sorry, I should have checked before we agreed to go.”

He'd taken her off in the TARDIS for one more trip. A birthday present, taking her to the best party in the universe, or so he'd claimed. 

“Psychic?” she asked, picking up on the important word. “Did you have that dream too?”

The Doctor clasped his hands together and leaned towards her. “Amy, it was just a dream. It didn't mean anything.”

“I eloped with you! We had sex!”

“We didn't.”

“If I remember it, then it happened,” she insisted. “You have to take some of the blame here.”

“Is blame really the right word?” he asked mildly.

Amy stared at him. “You _liked_ it.”

He stood up. “Don't be ridiculous. Do you really think I'd do any of that?”

“Yes, I do.”

He sighed, looked terribly old for just a second before his normal expression returned. “Do you want to go home or should we try another party?”

“You don't want to talk about it, do you?”

“No, I don't,” he said, simply. “I don't like dwelling on things that might not even have happened in the first place.”

“We'll always have Newcastle,” she said, bitterly. 

The Doctor stopped in the doorway. Amy thought he was going to say something, but then he was gone.


End file.
